It's a new month and that means a new hostess over at Our Creative Corner. For this week's challenge we are to make a masculine valentine card. The card I'm sharing was actually used at my last club meeting, so it's on the simpler side, but it was a hit with my stampers. My layout was inspired by this card.
This was our technique card (we always do one new technique at club) using the technique called faux rawhide. The tutorial I used can be found here. Tip of the day: I learned the hard way that when the tutorial says to put a "few" drops of reinker on your waxed paper, that means 3 or 4 drops, not 10! That much ink just made a big globby mess.
The heart (from what else, I {Heart} Hearts) was stamped on very vanilla cardstock in ruby red and soft suede, then cut out and mounted on a vanilla panel with dimensionals. The faux rawhide background was pierced in the corners and the sentiment (from the SAB set Whimsical Words) adhered inside a Hodgepodge Hardware frame. And that's pretty much it! I think the clean lines, textures and colors would appeal to most men. Maybe not my husband... but those of you who know Todd are probably well aware that he isn't like most men. ;)
That's it from me today. Go check out what everyone else on the OCC team has created - I'm sure you will be inspired to play along. Have a great weekend!
ETA: We had a little mix-up with the challenge link among the DT members. Some of us used a different photo for inspiration, but it's also really pretty. So just enjoy all the creations from the team and take your inspiration from where you find it!
Here's our first challenge for the month of February. I wanted to use something with a Valentine's Day theme and I thought these candy bars shown on the Better Homes & Gardens site were too cute to pass up - even though they are a papercraft item! I think there is plenty of room here to use hearts or not, so have fun with the challenge wherever it takes you.
For my card I pulled out from the inspiration piece the red flowers and bow, the pink stripes, and the use of text. My layout comes from this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge. I have to confess, it was kind of fun going over the top for Valentine's Day with this card!
I started out punching real red cardstock with the border and corner scallop trim punches. This was my first time using them together - I've been a little afraid after hearing the learning curve required to use these together. But I have to say, with the help of Gretchen Barron's awesome tutorial, it was almost painless. (I say "almost" because I pinched my hand in the border punch twice! OWWWW!) I used the Solid Stripes a la carte stamp (from the Occasions Mini) with pretty in pink ink and very vanilla cardstock for the smaller panel, and some of the Sending Love DP for the larger one. Then over the stripes I added this beautiful heart from I {Heart} Hearts with a pink corduroy button tied with linen thread.
I really wanted to feature words in the circle, and after trying a few ideas I settled on the I {Love} Love wheel. I used a Nestabilities circle to cut it out and created my scalloped circle with the border punch. I cut a slit between each of the scallops and folded them over to make a circle. I wanted to use the gorgeous red satin ribbon at the bottom of the card. I put the ribbon through the front of the card with the slot punch (something I rarely do - just one of those things I prefer to avoid, but I didn't want to add another layer). The bow is separate and was glued on top of the circle. So tell me... was all the effort worth it? I think this is one of those cards that unfortunately looks better IRL. I do like how it turned out, though.
Be sure to check out the cards made by all the Divine Divas for this challenge!
Anne
Chris
Donna
Julie
Kerri
Hope you are inspired to come and play along. Just leave a comment here with a link to your card. We can't wait to see what you create! The keyword for uploading on online forums will be DDIC21. Have fun and look for the next challenge on February 18! 
This is my motto this morning: "just for fun." Is "JFF" my invention or do those of you who text (I don't, LOL - not yet, anyway) use this already? Anyway, I decided that it's been way too long since I did a challenge purely for the fun of it, and today was the day to rectify that. Actually I did two challenges: the sketch challenge on SCS and the color challenge on Stampin' Connection (which I can't link because it's a forum for demos only). These colors were really fun to play with so you should try them even if you're not a demo: dusty durango, bashful blue, basic black, basic gray, and whisper white. When I saw this I thought, "Five colors!?! Now this is my kind of challenge!"
I started out with the main image panel. I wanted a stamp that could somehow incorporate all five colors, and I managed to do it with this image from Asian Artistry - let me tell you how! I inked the flowers with my dusty durango marker, then the stems with a basic gray marker. And then, I shaded the bottom and sides of the stems with a basic black marker before stamping on bashful blue cardstock. Finally I added some highlights to the flowers with a white gel pen. I used a similar technique for the bird: I inked it with the basic gray marker (omitting the bamboo around it), shaded with the black marker, then highlighted with the white pen. The bird is cut out and popped up on top of the same image stamped in black, then circle punched.
To finish my card I made the background with a technique I've been wanting to try. I ran dusty durango DP - the sheet that's solid - through the Big Shot with the Perfect Details texture plate. Then I sanded over the embossing with a sanding block - because this paper has a white core, the white will begin to show through. The gray panel is retired DP from A Walk in the Park, and the sentiment is also retired - from Hugs & Wishes. I used the modern label punch and the Movers & Shapers die there. Finally I added three black vintage brads and a strip of white satin ribbon.
Well, what do you know - that WAS fun! ;) Now I have more stamping to do... getting ready for the first DDIC of February tomorrow. I'm sure that even though I'm on a deadline, that will be fun as well. So be sure to check back tomorrow for a timely challenge I hope you will enjoy! 
As I mentioned last week, I'm going to be offering a card kit on the first of the month. Since it's February 1 it's time to launch my first kit!
With this card kit you’ll receive complete instructions and all the consumable supplies needed to make 6 of each of these card designs – a total of 12 cards. The price of this kit is just $15, including envelopes. Please note that I can only ship to the U.S. at this time.
If you purchase the monthly kit, you will also have the opportunity to purchase the coordinating stamp set at 15% off retail price (tax and shipping not included). This month the featured stamp set is Vintage Vogue from the Occasions Mini.
Vintage Vogue stamp set (wood-mount) regularly $23.95, with purchase of kit $20.36
Vintage Vogue stamp set (clear-mount) regularly $17.95, with purchase of kit $15.26
The rest of the products used in making these cards are given in the list below. If you have all of these then you’re ready to go, but just let me know if you’d like to order any of these items. You can also use the kit to make your own cards with the supplies you already own.
Please get your orders to me by February 12. You will receive your kit before the end of the month.
Lori Rider
loririder@verizon.net
978-486-8102
divastamper.blogspot.com
To purchase, please choose your option:
(1) One kit delivered in person - click here
(2) One kit delivered via U.S. mail - click here
(3) Two kits delivered in person - click here
(4) Two kits delivered by U.S. mail (to the same address) - click here
If you need more than two kits, OR if you are ordering any Stampin’ Up! products along with your kit(s), please contact me to work out the cost and shipping.
Additional Product List
• Soft Suede Classic Ink ($5.95)
• Rich Razzleberry Classic Ink ($5.95)
• Soft Suede Stampin’ Write marker (from In Color marker set, $17.95) – optional
• Very Vanilla 5/8” grosgrain ribbon ($7.95)
• Short & Sweet stamp set ($17.95)
• Jumbo 5/16” brads ($7.95)
• Silver brads ($6.95)
• Eyelet border punch ($15.95)
• Paper snips ($9.95)
• Bone folder ($6.95)
• Paper-piercing tool ($3.50)
• Mat pack ($9.95)
• Clear blocks A ($3.95), C ($6.95), G ($4.50), H ($8.50)
• Stampin’ Dimensionals ($3.95)
• SNAIL adhesive ($6.95)
• Pop-up Glue Dots ($3.95)
• Mini Glue Dots ($4.95)
If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know right away - I've tried to think of every possible detail, but since this is my first kit, I might have overlooked something! 
This isn't what you'd normally expect to see on my blog, would you? Well, I needed a card suitable for boys (tweens/teens) for an upcoming workshop, and this is what I came up with. The intention is for it to be a Valentine's Day card, so I hope this works! The timing was perfect since the challenge for Our Creative Corner this week is to make a card inspired by music in any way you want. I was mulling over a *lot* of ideas for how to use music on a card, considering that music has been so important to me my entire life. To end up with this card feels like a bit of a cop-out, but time just ran out and it turned into a twofer. It hasn't been the best week around here so you get what you get!
OK, enough with the apologizing and on to my card. I took a little inspiration from this card (the spiral punch, angling the main panel, embossing in black over the splatter image) and also (sort of) used the sketch challenge that was posted on Stampin' Connection, which is the new SU forum for demonstrators only.
I first stamped the splatter (from Extreme Elements) with going gray on whisper white, then embossed the Extreme guitar player with Versamark and black EP over top. Tip of the day: Even though my going gray was classic ink, I learned the hard way that you can't immediately emboss on top of it without the EP sticking to the classic ink. Kind of a "duh" moment, I guess. So let your background stamping dry before you emboss! You can also see that I forgot to use my embossing buddy. But actually I think on this card it looks kind of cool to have the black speckles on top of the gray.
I finished my card with going gray textured cardstock that was stamped with another of the Extreme Elements images in basic gray. I used the spiral punch on the edge and then roughed it up with my finger a little. The real red background is from the Jackpot DP, and the sentiment is from Just Jawing - I stamped it on real red cardstock and cut it by hand. The final touch was three black vintage brads in the upper right corner.
OK, that's it for today! Don't forget to go see what all the other OCC gals made this week - I'm sure you won't be disappointed! And I hope to be back this week with some more stamping projects... I'll do my best!
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